Success worth shouting about

The Clare Shout senior and junior titles have returned to Kilkishen as Joe O’Gorman reclaimed the senior cup and 10-year-old Moll Nolan scooped the junior prize. 
Joe (pictured), who is a Cratloe native but now resides in Kilkishen took the title for the first time in 2007 but lost the battle to reclaim it in the interim. however he returned to form this year and pipped last year’s winner David Walsh at the post in the final.
Approximately 35 were shouting for glory, among them previous winners Mary Murphy, David Walsh and Joe O’Gorman, but two of the previous title-holders were to dwindle when the chips were down.
Ten were selected to go forward into the next round, but despite a good effort, Mary missed out on a place in the top three and left Limerick man and 2009 winner David Walsh up against Danny Duggan from Kilkishen and Joe O’Gorman to see if he could retain the cup. It wasn’t to be for David, however, as Joe grasped the cup with his final banner roar.
Speaking about his triumph, Joe said he was glad to be returning the cup to Kilkishen where he hoped it would do the rounds of the local pubs.
“There’s a great sense of pride in it. I was trying hard for the last two years to get it back. All my family were there giving me huge support. The Clare Shout is a great event and gets the locals working together and there’s a good old buzz about the parish when it’s on. It was extended over two weeks this year and really brought the lake into it as well, which was a big advantage. I think it brought the local amenities into it more and appealed to more people as a result. It was a great success,” he added.
While Joe may have been returning to form with his Clare Shout this year, he also partook in a new pursuit as a model as he hit the runway as part of the festival’s fashion show.
Meanwhile shouting for the U-16s was Moll Nolan from Enagh in Kilkishen. participating in the junior competition for the first time, she was awarded the title on Sunday evening. She was chosen from 18 entrants having gone head to head with Sarah Madden also from Kilkishen.
Speaking about the overall event, Mike Hogan of the organising committee explained that arising from the success of the festival this year, this new format may remain in place for 2011.
He said a number of the activities proved very popular with significant turn outs for the fashion show, the skittles, the ceilí band, boat rides, the regatta and in particular, the 10km. Even Shrek and Snow White made an appearance. Winners in the skittles competitions were Tommy McMahon who took the senior title and Mark Pewter who took the U-16 prize.
“We had a big turnout for the Cullaun lake activities which we hope will be improved upon next year with music and we hope to develop it even further next year. It is a marvellous facility for the festival. The standard of the street parade was also up this year.
“We had a big decision to make this year, whether to hold the family fun day in the GAA pitch and the clubhouse or to have it in the centre of village but it proved to be very popular and the feedback was great. It was more compact and people hadn’t to walk too far. We will have to consider that again for next year,” Mike explained.
He added that the 10km was extremely well attended and saw Sean Hehir (Jnr) cross the line in 30.31 minutes.
“We had very keen serious runners involved in the run with 103 participating. While another 100 took part in the fun run/walk and the feedback was that everyone had an excellent time. The route was brought out by the lakes and bog this year and so the scenery was beautiful. It proved way bigger than last year,” he concluded.